


Now Isn't The Time

by Angel_made_of_scars



Series: Leading Into A Life [9]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Autism, M/M, Weird adoption scenario
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-07-11 05:26:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7030834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angel_made_of_scars/pseuds/Angel_made_of_scars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean is at work when he gets a call from the hospital. Cas has been injured on the job. Being basically a counselor, he isn't sure what could have happened, and rushes over to find Cas in a state of bleariness, medicated and sad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Now Isn't The Time

**Author's Note:**

> This story posted twice and I had to delete one of the copies! This is the one that stays. Sorry for any confusion! :/

When Dean picked up his cell with the number flashing as the hospital line, he wasn't innitially too worried. Cas called from that line all the time. When he realized it wasn't Cas' voice, he was out from under the car in split second.

"Sir, do you know a Claire Novak?" She asked. He could hear the whining from the background and waved down Bobby to come over.

"No, I uh, I know Castiel Novak, what's wrong? What happened?" Dean asked quickly.

"You're listed as Castiel Novaks emergency contact. Earlier today, Claire Novak was brought in from a juvenile detention center to evaluated for release. Upon seeing that Castiel-"

"No, please say Cas. He can hear you, it freaks him out." Dean said.

"Right, Cas, then. When the center saw that Cas had the same last name, they decided to pair them. Claire arrived, and as the security officer has relayed to me, Cas said something about her mother, and Claire began to beat him." She said slowly. Dean growled and hung up on the nurse. No one did that to Cas.

Dean pocketed his phone, and Bobby slapped him on the shoulder.

"Go boy, I got your shift." Bobby said.

Dean nodded and grabbed his jacket, then he was out the door. He was in his car and down the road in no time, almost running a red light. The whole time he knawed on his lip.

The fact that Cas hadn't called could be good or bad. Good, because it may not be serious. Bad, because if Cas couldn't call himself, and had to use an emergency contact, there was no way it was ok. He decided it didn't matter when he ran in the building.

"Cas- uh- Castiel? I'm his emergency contact, he works here." Dean stuttered.

"We spoke on the phone, I can see you're worried. A doctor took him away a few minutes ago." She said patiently.

"God, no, that's not good. What doctor?" Dean asked.

"Megan Masters? She's highly skilled, I assure you-"

"No, ok, that's fine. He knows her. I'm going to go find him. Hey, sorry for hanging up on you." Dean said as he started to run down the hall. He figured he was cutting her off again, but he didn't care. He had to get to Cas.

Dean knew immediately why he had been called. Cas was relatively calm given the situation, which wasn't good. If he was calm, it meant he was either in shock or had been given his medication, because from the noise over the phone earlier, Cas was not calm.

He had his face hidden in his knees, and he was crouched in the corner, with a blanket around him, and Megs hand on his back. She looked up and motioned him over, and replaced her hand with his.

"Watch him. I'm going to go get him a wheelchair." Meg said. Dean nodded and she left the room, giving them a moment to talk.

"Cas, it's Dean. I'm here sweetheart. I heard you got hurt. You want to let me see what happened?" Dean asked quietly.

Cas turned, and Dean felt anger rise up in his chest. Cas' lip was split, and his eye looked puffy. Not enough to be black, but probably enough to hurt.

"Don't wanna be hurt anymore!" Cas squeaked.

"Oh, oh, ok, alright, shhh. Come here." Dean soothed. He picked Cas up like it was nothing, and having done it so much, it was. He sat down in a chair by Megs desk, where Cas straddled his lap.

"Jacket." Cas sniffed.

Dean sat up and pulled his leather off, and put it over Cas' shoulders instead. He hummed and laid forward onto Deans chest, and Dean hugged him closer.

"Is this better? Does this help?" Dean asked.

"Meg gave me a pill." Cas said, instead of answering. 

"Were you scared?" Dean asked. Cas nodded. He whimpered like he would cry, and Dean rubbed his back.

"Talk to me. Let it out. What made this girl want to hit you?" Dean asked.

"I said I was sorry about her mom. She had cancer. Claire said I looked like dad. She got on me..." Cas stopped.

"It's ok, take it easy." Dean said. Cas took a stuttered breath and continued.

"She held my arm, and I said stop, but she hit me. I screamed, and a man came in, but she hit my eye." Cas said. He made a choked noise, then coughed, and tucked his face into Deans shoulder. Dean nodded and rubbed his back.

When Meg opened the door, Dean picked Cas up again, and put him in the wheelchair fairly easily. He held his hand, which was starting to lose grip, while Cas used his other hand to cling to Deans jacket.

"I gave him his medicine, he started to think back to some pretty bad stuff, and I thought it was best. This may have set him back a little in progress for getting past his previous abuse, and he might be jumpy, but just stick with him like usual." Meg whispered.

"Alright, thank you. Hey, do you know why this girl thought Cas was her dad? I mean, is she unstable? Should we be worried, safety wise?" Dean asked.

"No, it's all being sorted, but she won't be out for a while. Turns out though, your Clarence has a twin." Meg said.

"Whoa, like an actual twin? With a teenage daughter?" Dean asked.

"Sort of. After Claire freaked out, I did some searching. Jimmy Novak and Cas, they share an uncanny resemblance. You know Cas was adopted, by Naomi Milton and Chuck Novak. Well, Castiel took the Novak name. Jimmy though, was older, and he never was going to get out of foster care. So, legally, Chuck and Naomi adopted him at seventeen." Meg explained.

"Then what? Why has Cas never met the guy?" Dean asked. He looked down, to see Cas drifting in and out of sleep, and smiled a little.

"Because, as soon as Jimmy was eighteen he ran, and at the time Gabriel was off at the private school they sent him to, and Cas was still young. He wouldn't have remembered him."

"That explains it then. Naomi wouldn't have wanted news to spread of a missing kid, with her to blame. But, does that make Claire... Cas' neice?" Dean asked.

"By blood relation, yes. Her father is Cas' brother. He does seem to have cleaned up his act in recent years, but him leaving when Claire was young doesn't help their relationship. I would stand clear of Claire until she's calmed down." Meg said.

"What happened to Claire? I mean, why is she jailed?" Dean asked. Meg huffed and shook her head.

"I can't tell you. Medical professional, those are patient documents. But... If I were going to accidentally let it slip, I'd say her dad came back when her mom passed to take her in, and she blamed him for not being there to take care of her mom, and tried to stab him. In the yard. Neighbors saw." Meg mumbled. Dean took a deep breath and sighed.

"Ok... What do I tell Cas about this, when he's lucid?" Dean asked.

"Your choice. You could not tell him. Jimmy has his own life now, with a teenager, and an apartment. He's ok where he is. Maybe one day, they could meet, but..."

"Yeah, now isn't the time." Dean finished.

"Alright, hey, thank you. I'll get you the wheelchair back real quick, I know we're not suppose to take them home." Dean said. Meg nodded.

"Yeah, you owe me big Winchester, don't forget that."

"Oh, never."

* * *

"Hey, yeah, no listen. Can you and Jess come and pick up a wheelchair from my place? - No, I know. My car is at the hospital, and I need someone to drive it back here, but I also need to get this chair back. - No, everything's fine. Some sick in the head kid thought Cas was her dad and freaked out on him. I had to wheel him home, but he's ok. - As soon as possible. - Ok, thanks Sam. - 'k, bye."

Cas whined to let Dean know he was awake. His limbs felt too heavy to move, and his head was starting to hurt. His lip did hurt, badly. He raised his fingers to touch it, but a hand pulled them back.

"Can I lay down with you?" Dean asked. Cas tried to pat the bed weakly, but it barely worked. Dean understood though, and he wrapped his arms around Cas.

"Your lip looks pretty bad buddy. That Claire kid really packed a punch. Do you want some ice for it? Or a cold pack?" Dean asked.

"Yet." Cas mumbled.

"Not yet?" Dean said. Cas nodded.

"Ok, you let me know." Dean said. Cas shut his eyes again.

* * *

Cas could hear Sams voice first, and he sat up. What time was it? It was getting dark. He slid his legs over the side of the bed, but it still took him a minute to get up. When he did, his legs almost gave out.

He made his way slowly to the kitchen, where Dean had noticed now that he was up. They were talking by the door, and Dean held up his arm for Cas to step into. He did immediately, pressing himself to Deans side, until Dean lowered his arm down around his back.

It felt nice to be held by Dean, so he ignored the conversation completely in favor of letting the heat from Dean soak into his skin. The only time he paid attention was when he heard his name.

"Did you hear? Sam asked if you're ok?" Dean said quietly.

Cas reluctantly pulled away, and turned towards Sam, but he found that he couldn't speak. Instead, he held out his arms, and after a moment Sam stepped forward to give him a hug. It wasn't as good as Deans hug, but it wasn't bad. He did the same to Jess, then tucked himself back into Deans side.

"Guess he doesn't want to talk just yet. Cas, do you want to sign or anything?" Dean asked. Cas thought, then shook his head. He just didn't feel like he could put words together right now. Dean nodded in understanding.

"It's hard to talk sometimes, we get it. We just came back up to say we hope you get healed up real soon." Jess said. Cas nodded, and tried his best to smile. That was nice of them.

He tuned out the rest of the conversation in favor of smothering the burst of anxiety he felt in his chest when his lip started to throb in pain.

* * *

As soon as Sam and Jess were out the door, Cas was pulling Dean to the fridge. He was a little hungry, but his swollen lip throbbing had taken most of his appetite.

Dean knew what he needed and pulled some yogurt out, then led Cas to the table. He grabbed a cold pack from the freezer as an afterthought and put it on the table.

Cas took it and pressed it to his lip, but pulled back quickly. It hurt. It really hurt. He didn't want to feel that kind of pain again. Claire wasn't important, she wasn't dangerous. But she was, because it hurt.

"Breathe in and out buddy, come on." Dean said quietly. When had he crouched down so close?

"There you go, in and out. It's ok, Claire won't hurt you." Dean said. Cas scrunched his eyebrows.

"You kept saying her name. It's ok, lets forget about her, ok? Let's forget about all of it. Her and her dad." Dean mumbled. Cas shot him a questioning look, but Dean brushed it off.

"Nothing. You need to eat something. Yogurt will be ok with that busted lip, but you need more then that. Just a little something." Dean said. Cas nodded.

"Ok, we got uh... Fruit, or granola?" Dean suggested. Cas shook his head and pointed to the jar on the counter.

"The mini m&m's? Seriously?" Dean chuckled. Cas nodded eagerly.

"Alright, but only because you have a boo-boo lip." Dean smiled. He leaned over and waited until Cas nodded, then kissed his forehead. Cas smiled and put the cold pack back on his mouth, while Dean fixed him a bowl.

* * *

By the next morning, Cas' lip felt a little better, and he felt like the vice grip on his vocal cords had released. He sat down by the window and looked out, until Dean sat up in bed.

"Hello Dean."

"Hey Cas."

"What were you dreaming about?" Cas asked. Dean wrinkled his nose.

"Honestly? Something about elephants. I don't know, I was in a field, and then I was in, like, africa, and there were lions and elephants-"

"Did the lions attack the elephants?!" Cas asked, suddenly alarmed.

"No, no, no, it was fine. I honestly don't remember anything else though. Except that Sam was there." Dean said.

"Was I there?"

"I didn't see you, but you were probably off riding elephants somewhere." Dean grinned. Cas smiled back at him.

"That would be fun. We should maybe go one day. Or we could go to the zoo." Cas said. Dean nodded.

"Yeah, africa is pretty far away. The zoo though? That's a couple hours. We could do that. We could borrow Gabriels old car, and see if you can ride in that. You use to as a kid." Dean said. Cas nodded.

"Dean, will you make pancakes and bacon?" Cas asked.

"Not waffles? Or eggs?"

"No, pancakes today." Cas confirmed.

"Alright, I can get behind that. Maybe we can call over Kevin. I still owe him for the sausage incident." Dean chuckled. Cas nodded.

"That sounds good." He said.

"Awesome, I'll call you in when it's ready if you want." Dean said. Cas nodded, as Dean stood from the bed.

He came over and leaned down, kissing Cas' cheek before making his exit. Cas smiled as he listened to his footsteps go towards the kitchen.

**Author's Note:**

> So... I left open a way for Jimmy and Claire to come into the picture. Don't know when, but at some point.


End file.
